Badminton in Pendle has received recognition from BADMINTON England’s Chief Executive.
Adrian Christie, Chief Executive of BADMINTON England will be visiting Pendle in April to see the outstanding developments which have been made across the borough.
Colne and Colne Junior Badminton Club, who play at Pendle Leisure Centre and at Park High School, will lead the discussions as they have benefitted immensely from continuous developments.
Over the last two years Colne BC have gone from strength to strength, increasing club members, new affiliated junior club, two successful funding bids to increase junior participation, gifted and talented coaching programme, grassroots primary school coaching programme, numerous nominations of volunteer of the year and winners of club of the year at the Pendle Sports Awards.
This success as purely be down to the club’s determination to provide a safe and welcoming environment.
Sharon De Maine, Colne Badminton Club, Andy Tatam, Badminton Coach, Joe Cooney, Sports Development, Neil Stewart, School Games Organiser and Claire Newton, Premier League 4 Sport Coordinator will be the main group who will be showcasing the success Pendle has seen over the last two years.
And it’s not only just junior badminton that has taken off.
Two new No String Badminton sessions have been set up for members of the community aged 16 and over at Pendle Leisure Centre on Wednesdays from 7-8 p.m. and West Craven Sports Centre on Tuesdays from 8-9 p.m..
Numbers are increasing weekly as each session is supported by a coordinator to welcome new players.
Even though a lot has happened in the last two years, there is still a lot more work to be done including entering players into the newly established East Lancashire Junior Badminton League, increasing adult focused badminton sessions and increasing the number of junior coaches.
De Maine said: “I am so pleased to see Pendle Badminton getting the recognition it deserves, all involved have worked so hard and it’s great that Adrian has chosen to come and meet us.”